Using Grief For Good: Young Maltese Fashion Designer Launches Collection On Grief
Grief is an emotion no one can sieve for too long, but it can be used for good. A young Maltese fashion designer has turned the turbulent feeling into fuel for her final collection in Edinburgh.
Prudence Young who studies fashion at Heriot-Watt University, explored feelings of human loss through her collection called “The Aftermath”, threading the complex rollercoaster of emotions of grief into garments.
“The concept explores four emotions conceptualised as if they were an explosion and the aftermath that comes along with it,” Young, 23, told Lovin Malta.
“From this starting point, I created through the stages of emotion: the numbness, the hurt and the okay-ness.”
To do this, Young worked with a technique that “moulds” leather, symbolising suffocation and pain.
“One emotion that stuck with me was not being able to breathe, therefore being suffocated by my own thoughts. Moulding and laser etching leather allowed me to transform this feeling into something tangible.”
“I wanted my design to reflect that and embody all the emotions associated with grief, including sadness, anger and every emotion in between. Throughout this process made a luxury high-end womenswear collection with every outfit symbolising a different emotion and showing how grief consumed me and still is consuming me as a person.”
“This will be shown through contrasting shapes, textures, and silhouettes and a colour story inspired by everyone’s aftermath.”
When it comes to the process, there was no linear fashion involved.
“My process was a bit all over the place to be fair, it is very hard to visualise a feeling as it looks different for everybody. But I started with writing what I felt and the emotions I went through, and then finding art, sculpture, and architecture that can represent those feelings.”
The result is bespoke wearable art, in striking and earthy colour, and texture.
“The first emotion I felt I named it the explosion – the reason for this was because an explosion comes out of nowhere one minute you are fine and the next your life is being turned upside down and losing somebody felt a lot like that for me.”
The young designer is more than content with her final collection. However, life seems more uncertain post-graduation.
“I’m so proud of my final collection, It was a hard process to contextualise an emotion and I had nothing tangible to look at for inspiration. So being able to create literally something from scratch while still making it unique and my own felt like a big personal accomplishment.”
“Life post-graduation is full of ups and downs, though it was fun to have a collection and showcase it in fashion shows and exhibitions in Edinburgh, but it’s also been uncertain to find jobs that align with your values as a designer.”
Check out the collection here.
Young’s degree was financed by Malta Arts Scholarships.
What do you make of Young’s collection?
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